


Happy birthday, Ianto Jones

by FragileObject



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Birthday Presents, Humor, Immortals in Space, Love, M/M, Promised sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-26
Updated: 2013-03-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 14:34:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/736764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FragileObject/pseuds/FragileObject
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's beautiful when someone remembers your birthday, isn't it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happy birthday, Ianto Jones

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Feliz cumpleaños, Ianto Jones](https://archiveofourown.org/works/736752) by [FragileObject](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FragileObject/pseuds/FragileObject). 



> I apologize for my english. As usual. I do. Sorry.

Ianto closed the small window with a resigned sigh and sat on the bench carved in stone next to Jack.

—The storm subsides —he said with a hint of desperation.

—Give it a couple of hours —replied Jack patiently.

One more day on this planet and Ianto would go mad. The lathais of planet Terdun were friendly and simple creatures. They were also fun and very respectful of their environment, and their society was highly civilized and egalitarian. Their communities were very harmonized and he barely have had wars in their history. Physically they were very similar to humans, although somewhat shorter and with slightly elongated heads. They liked to dress in colorful clothes of natural fibers and used their leisure hours to tell stories and write songs. In short, they were adorable. And for Ianto, they could be much more if they wouldn’t love to live in caves dug in the driest desert of Terdun. Yes, they were great hydraulic engineers and employed well even the last drop of water and, yes, the caves were spacious, clean and airy and they could channel any natural light. Everything could be great if it wasn’t for those dreadful storms that lashed the region almost daily. Jack and Ianto had helped the lathais to get rid of an enemy that wanted to invade them and plunder them and Jack had insisted to stay with them for a few days to install new circuits with security cameras and facial recognition systems. If Ianto had to spend much longer in that place, removing sand from places in his body he didn’t remember he had, he would eventually kill Jack. Really. He would even try it to be definitive. After all, if someone had earned the right to kill him, it was himself: he had spent hundreds of years with Jack and most of them as his husband.

Ianto sighed again and looked at his clothes. Red sand everywhere. He looked at the sitting dozen of kind lathais waiting in the cave with them for the storm to pass. More red sand. He turned his head and looked at Jack. His hair, his face, his beautiful coat... Ianto felt like crying. The storm would last a couple of hours. They were almost mathematically regular. As it finished, he would leave the planet. With or without Jack. He was ready to kill him or get a divorce, the easiest of both things.

After a while, Ianto felt Jack’s breath on his neck.

—Ianto, I have something for you... —said the Captain in a low voice.

The Welshman opened his eyes, which he had closed to try to isolate himself from all the misery, and looked at him. Bastard. With all that filthy sand above he still was the most ravishingly beautiful creature in the universe.

—Jack, not in front of all these people —Ianto replied in the same tone of voice.

—Don’t be an idiot, I don’t mean that. It’s a gift.

—A gift? That’s a bit more than pretentious, even for you.

Jack didn’t seem offended. On the contrary, he smiled warmly through the patina of reddish sand that covered him and reached into the inside pocket of his long coat without taking his clear blue eyes off of Ianto.

—It turns out I did some calculations and found that today, in terms of Earth time, it’s your birthday.

The phrase seemed so strange to Ianto that he forgot the storm and the lathais.

—What?

—I've done the math and I can say with 100% accuracy that today, in the old Earth, is August 19. So... Happy birthday, Ianto Jones.

Jack took something out of his pocket and handed it to Ianto, still smiling. He picked it up, puzzled. It was a small, slightly irregular sheet of parchment material. It looked very old. Some time ago, it probably would have had sharp, brilliant colors, but now it was just a blur.

—What is this?

—A photo.

—A... what? —Ianto asked, amazed, incredulous—. But... Where did you get photo paper? There are no civilizations in this part of the galaxy that manufacture paper... How could you print...? With what ink? What technology?

—I bought it at Tau-Nasim, in the market we visited in Shonar.

Ianto had to digest the information before answering.

—That… that was four weeks ago...

—Approximately —Jack replied, dismissively—. That guy with goat horns selling paper and wood antiques had some incredible things. He tried to sell me a French deck, do you remember the French decks? But it was a bad fake printed on laminated paper. But this... it’s cut, it looks like part of an old greeting card...

Ianto looked at the paper carefully. Paying more attention, the colors seemed to separate and define in front his eyes. The shape of the object in the picture cleared, focused and even seemed to grow, like Ianto deep blue eyes, recognizing what he was seeing. He couldn’t believe it.

—This is... it’s a cupcake with a birthday candle... —he said with his voice clouded with emotion—. You are giving me a picture of a cupcake… with a candle...

—Where do you want me to keep a real cupcake in this coat? —Jack replied innocently.

Ianto lowered his hand with the photo and looked at Jack. He wouldn’t recognize it, but he had goosebumps. Jack had calculated his birthday and had looked for a gift for him with an advance of weeks. He swallowed hard and blinked. He often thought he was the only human in the history of the universe that had loved the same being for centuries. And then, from time to time, Jack did something like this and showed him that no, he was not the only one. He sighed and smiled to the man of his life.

—I’ve seen stranger things out of that coat.

Jack grinned and let out a small laugh. Sassy, satisfied... in love.

—Happy birthday, Ianto Jones.

—Thanks, cariad —Ianto replied, stroking his dusty cheek.

Slowly, savoring every second, Ianto put his lips on Jack’s lips and kissed him gently but deeply, putting all his love into the kiss, feeling proudly that Jack returned it to the same extent. Nor the sand that slipped into his mouth nor the funny whispers of the lathais meant anything for him. When the kiss was extinguished, they both remained very close to each other, their noses almost touching. A tremendously intimate gesture that Ianto loved.

—And tell me... How old am I turning?

Jack replied without separating from him. His dark lashes caressed Ianto’s cheekbone.

—What does that matter?

—You’re right —Ianto said with a laugh.

After a moment, the two men separated. Ianto leaned his head against the wall. He could not stop smiling. The small window was right above him and he could still hear the roar of the wind. With a finger he removed some sand from the tip of his tongue.

—You know, Jack?

—Yes?

—Later, when this damn storm is over, and we take the ship, and we are far from this planet —he said putting a hand on Jack’s thigh and subtly moving it upward, suggesting that his words were not admitting orders nor discussion—... maybe I will have something for you too.

Jack could not help laughing while the lathais exchanged glances, whispers and giggles. He closed his eyes, leaned his head against the wall and hoped the storm would be over soon.


End file.
